Quantcast
Powered by RebelMouse

2.6 Billion Pounds of Monsanto’s Glyphosate Sprayed on U.S. Farmland in Past Two Decades

Guest Contributor
Oct. 12, 2015 09:28AM EST

Farmers sprayed 2.6 billion pounds of Monsanto’s glyphosate herbicide on U.S. agricultural land between 1992 and 2012, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Glyphosate has been the go-to weed killer for use on genetically engineered, or GMO, crops since the mid-1990s, when Monsanto introduced its “Roundup Ready” corn and soybeans.

Click here to watch a time-lapse video of the spread of glyphosate across America over the 20-year period.

Photo credit: USGS, Pesticide National Synthesis Project

Recent research has found that exposure to glyphosate doubles the risk of developing cancer. Since the use of the herbicide on GMO crops has exploded in recent years, it’s no wonder people overwhelmingly want GMO-containing food products to be labeled.

Here are the states that spray the most glyphosate year by year:

Photo credit: USGS, Pesticide National Synthesis Project

Glyphosate primarily blankets fields of GMO corn and GMO soybeans—the two most widely planted crops in the U.S. This table shows how many acres of these herbicide-tolerant GMOs were grown in 2014 in the states that produced the most.

Photo credit: USDA NASS Acreage Report

But no matter where you live, you should have the right to know if the food your family is eating was produced with GMOs. While people in 64 other countries have that right already, Americans do not.

Tell Washington that it’s time to stand with the 90 percent of Americans who want mandatory GMO labeling.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Monsanto Fights Back Against Cancer Lawsuits as Company Eliminates 12% of Workforce

Why Isn’t Big Ag’s Huge Contribution to Climate Change on the Agenda at COP21?

10 GMO Labeling Myths Busted

Confirmed: American Academy of Pediatrics Cuts Ties With Monsanto

food featured biodiversity health genetically engineered foods
Sponsored
nutrition

Is Tofu Gluten-Free?

by [D.Jiang] / Moment / Getty Images

By Alena Kharlamenko

Tofu is a staple in vegetarian and vegan diets.

Read More Show Less
vegan vegetarian food nutrition health diet
agriculture

Lab Grown Meat Could Be Worse for the Climate Than Farm-Raised Beef, Oxford Study

KarinaKnyspel / iStock / Getty Images

2018 saw a number of studies pointing to the outsized climate impact of meat consumption. Beef has long been singled out as particularly unsustainable: Cows both release the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere because of their digestive processes and require a lot of land area to raise. But for those unwilling to give up the taste and texture of a steak or burger, could lab-grown meat be a climate-friendly alternative? In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the Oxford Martin School set out to answer that question.

Read More Show Less
meat meat consumption climate change methane carbon pollution agriculture agribusiness
Sponsored
border wall

Build a Border Wall? Here’s an Idea That’s Better for Communities and the Climate

Three scissor-tailed flycatcher fledglings in a mesquite tree in Texas. Texas Eagle / CC BY-NC 2.0

By Gary Paul Nabhan

President Trump has declared a national emergency to fund a wall along our nation's southern border. The border wall issue has bitterly divided people across the U.S., becoming a vivid symbol of political deadlock.

Read More Show Less
border wall agriculture biodiversity health
factory farming

Factory Farms Pollute the Environment and Poison Drinking Water

PeopleImages / E+ / Getty Images

By Daniel Ross

Hurricane Florence, which battered the U.S. East Coast last September, left a trail of ruin and destruction estimated to cost between $17 billion and $22 billion. Some of the damage was all too visible—smashed homes and livelihoods. But other damage was less so, like the long-term environmental impacts in North Carolina from hog waste that spilled out over large open-air lagoons saturated in the rains.

Hog waste can contain potentially dangerous pathogens, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. According to the state's Department of Environmental Quality, as of early October nearly 100 such lagoons were damaged, breached or were very close to being so, the effluent from which can seep into waterways and drinking water supplies.

Read More Show Less
factory farming drinking water rivers antibiotics soil methane air pollution agriculture roundup
pollution

Tourists Are Trashing the World’s Tallest Mountain, So China Has Banned Them From Its Base Camp

This picture taken on May 21, 2018 shows discarded climbing equipment and rubbish scattered around Camp 4 of Mount Everest. Decades of commercial mountaineering have turned Mount Everest into the world's highest rubbish dump as an increasing number of big-spending climbers pay little attention to the ugly footprint they leave behind. DOMA SHERPA / AFP / Getty Images

China has closed its Everest base camp to tourists because of a buildup of trash on the world's tallest mountain.

Read More Show Less
china pollution